Google Hotel Finder — OTA advertisers commandeer hotel pages

An advertising experiment in Google Hotel Finder enables Google and online travel agencies to blatantly and misleadingly cash in on hotels’ intellectual property.

An advertising experiment in Google Hotel Finder enables Google and online travel agencies to blatantly and misleadingly cash in on hotels’ intellectual property.

Google Hotel Finder is displaying hotel listings atop search results pages, labeling each as an “Ad” and then providing an online travel agency placement as the only practical booking link.

These type of advertisements may have a parallel to the days when OTAs were bidding on hotel keywords in Google and other search engines. Several major chains issued trademark standards and threatened to boycott any intermediaries who trampled on the hotels’ intellectual property.